The Reading Cult Film club WEEK 3

Week 3 of The Reading Cult Film Club. Apocalypse Now.

Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American epic war film set during the Vietnam War, Produced and Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, and Robert Duvall. The film follows the central character, U.S. Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard (Sheen), of MACV-SOG, on a mission to kill the renegade and presumed insane U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Brando).

The screenplay by John Milius and Coppola came from Milius's idea of changing Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness into the Vietnam War era. It also draws from Michael Herr's Dispatches,[5] the film version of Conrad's Lord Jim[citation needed] which shares the same character of Marlow with Heart of Darkness, and Werner Herzog's Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972).[6]

The film has been noted for the problems encountered while making it. These problems were chronicled in the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, which recounted the stories of Brando arriving on the set overweight and completely unprepared; costly sets being destroyed by severe weather; and its lead actor (Sheen) suffering a heart attack while on location. Problems continued after production as the release was postponed several times while Coppola edited millions of feet of footage.

Upon its release, it received critical acclaim. It is now widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever.[7][8][9] Honored with the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, the film was also deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" and was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry in 2000. In the Sight and Sound Greatest Films poll, the film was ranked #14.

£5 includes entry to the film & popcorn. The film starts at 8pm upstairs at RYND. Feel free to join us for food and drinks before.

RYND Bar & Kitchen 11 Castle St, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 7SB.